Raman's Blog

If you use AdGuard CLI ( adguard-cli ) on Arch Linux or an Arch-based distribution like Garuda Linux , you might have encountered a frustrating issue: your desktop environment constantly displays a yellow warning icon or a "Limited Connectivity" / "No Internet" notification, even though your web browser opens websites without any trouble. Checking the network status in your terminal confirms the symptom: $ nmcli networking connectivity check Error: Timeout was reached. In this post, we will break down why this happens deep within the Linux networking stack and how to solve it permanently in under two minutes. 1. How NetworkManager Probes for Internet Linux desktop environments (KDE Plasma, GNOME, XFCE) rely on NetworkManager to check for active internet access and detect captive portals (like hotel or airport Wi-Fi). Every few minutes, NetworkManager sends a lightweight HTTP request to an external endpoint: Test URL: http://ping.archlinux.org/...

Computer security (also known as cybersecurity or IT security) is information security as applied to computers and computer networks. The field covers all the processes and mechanisms by which computer-based equipment, information and services are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction. Computer security also includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters. There are three core principles of cyber security: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. Cybersecurity standards are security standards which enable organizations to practice safe security techniques to minimize the number of successful cybersecurity attacks. Although USA, Germany and South Korea have well developed cybersecurity standards, India has none remarkable. The worldwide security technology and services market is forecast to reach $67.2 billion in 2013, up 8.7 percent that in 2012 and we need to brace up for the market demand. The following are a few examples ...

Go to synaptic and install emerald theme manager. Open up a terminal window. Issue the command emerald –replace To auto start emerald while starting up, add the following to the startup application list. Name: Emerald Description: Emerald Startup Command: emerald –replace install CCSM with the command sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager. You will find this in the General section labeled KDE Compatibility. Make sure that check box is checked. Optionally: in CCSM change Effects - Window decoration - value to point to emerald But in my xubuntu the following command is what worked for me. compiz --loose-binding --replace ccp && emerald --replace Put the above two commands separately as the startup commands.

The following are some of the tools available for BSNL customers at the time of writing this post. To know last bill amount Send BILL to 53333 To get usage amount Send AMT to 53333 Ring Back Tone Send BT ACT to 56700 to activate. This should be followed by BT song-code to 56700 Send BT DACT to 56700 to deactivate. Visit http://www.keralatelecom.com/teleNEWS/prbt1817.htm for more details. SMS Message Center For numbers starting with 9447 - +919440099997 For numbers starting with 9446, 9495 or 9496 - +919442099997 To activate Friends and Family Call Plan SMS the following to 53733 FFE Landline Number (including STD code) Mobile Number To know the EMI number of your handset Press *#06#

The following are the BSNL GPRS activation settings in South India at the time of writing this blog post. To activate GPRS Post Paid Customers should send the following SMS to 53733 1. GPRS199 – Rs 199/month; unlimited usage 2. GPRS49 – Rs 49/month; After 5 MB usage, each 10 KB costs 3 paise 3. GPRSF – No monthly fee; each 10 KB costs 5 paise Pre Paid customers should send the following SMS to 53733 GPRSPRE – each KB costs 2 paise To deactivate GPRS facility: Send the following SMS to 53733 GPRSD Activate the automatic GPRS settings: Visit http://218.248.72.246/msp/html OR SMS the following to 58355 MODEL MAKE e.g. NOKIA 6070 BSNL INTERNET Settings: (This is what enabled internet access for my mobile applications) 1. Select Settings from Menu > Settings >Configuration>Personal configuration settings>Options>Add new>Access point 2. Connection name: BSNL GPRS 3. Data bearer: GPRS 4. Access point name: gprssouth.cellone.in 5. User name:...

There has been many times I have searched online for the essential bookmarklets whenever I use a different computer or reinstall my browser. Of course I could have just bookmarked them in Delicious and reinstall it from there. Maybe I was just lazy to bookmark all my bookmarklets. For those who are unfamiliar to bookmarklets - A bookmarklet is a small JavaScript program that can be stored as a URL within a bookmark in most popular web browsers, or within hyperlinks on a web page. Bookmarklets serve advanced functions and are very useful if you use browsers like Google chrome which does not support addons and doesn't have much inbuilt functions. Cybernetnews has listed a set of very useful bookmarklets under an apt title - The best bookmarklets for your browser. Click the link below to grab them!  Link: http://cybernetnews.com/2006/12/27/cybernotes-the-best-bookmarklets-for-your-browser/

I happened to watch an amazing video on how easy it is to set up Google friend connect on blogger. I thought it is not possible on blogger as it needs to install two html pages to the site. Thanks to the following video on youtube I can now enable it in my blog. The trick is simple – you don’t need to upload the 2 files!

Image by Paul Trafford via Flickr Livestation is an application for viewing many live television channels on the computer via internet. Livestation delivers a range of live radio and television channels to your computer over a broadband network. Those who are regular users of livestation or those who want to watch live television on their computers will appreciate it if they could watch them using their favorite media players rather than using a separate application. Mediaplayer connectivity addon in firefox will help you to watch the live video using the media player of your own choice. It allows you to launch embed video of website in an external application with a simple click of a button. All you have to do is the following 1. Install the MediaPlayerConnectivity addon in your firefox. 2. Select the media player of your choice in the wizard that automatically appears after restarting firefox. 3. Simply go to ChannelKing Log in to livestation website (sign up is f...

Image via Wikipedia Copy the URL of the video and paste it into the box in ClipNabber and press enter. You will get the download link of the video which you can download with your web browser or download manager. The service supports a large number of video hosting websites. The best thing I like is the ClipNabber bookmarklet which you can drag to your bookmarks toolbar of your web browser and click it when you are in the webpage with the video you want to download. If you just want to download the audio as mp3, you can use the service of TuneNabber . It seems to be a sister website of ClipNabber. But to use this service you need to agree to abide by your country’s copyright laws and provide your email address. The download link will be sent to your email. But I am quite sceptic of sharing my email address and did not try this service yet. There is a Nab Mp3 bookmarklet too akin to ClipNabber video download which you can keep handy. Technorati Tags: bookmarklet

As everyone knows if you are not a premium user of the famous file sharing site Rapidshare, you need to wait for about 15 min for the next download. For users with a dynamic IP address it is just a matter of disconnecting and reconnecting their internet connection to bypass the waiting time. But for users with a fixed IP address an easy way to change IP address is to use the freeware hotspotshield from anchorfree . Technorati Tags: rapidshare

In this digital era of electronic documents and ebooks, Adobe Digital Editions fills the void for the need of a visually pleasing interface for reading ebooks. Organize your eBooks into a custom library and annotate pages. Digital Editions also supports industry-standard eBook formats, including PDF/A and EPUB. Use it to download and purchase digital content. There are other ways to read pdf documents in an engaging and visually pleasant interface. Issuu lets you upload all your pdf files and read and share online. Scribd is a more famous service of the same kind and is not limited to pdf files. If you want to share your files with others and need a free online storage, Scribd or Issuu will be a good choice. If you are like me and would like to keep your files private in your computer and would like to have a more visually pleasing reader for pdf files, Adobe Digital Editions is a good choice. Technorati Tags: ebook reader , reader , ebooks , pdf , adobe

Now it is possible to download torrents like any other downloads using web browsers like Google chrome or IE which does not support downloading torrents natively. Bitlet is an online service where you have to paste the torrent metafile url and press download. An easier way to use the service is to use the bookmarklet. Bitlet uses java and it needs to be installed in your computer to use it.

Get unlimited online storage space at myBloop.com ! According to the website, you can store all your files online forever for free!! I didn’t have any problem with the uploader. But you can also download “blooploader” for uploading files to your account. In addition to online storage, there are social functions offered by the website like sharing files, twitter updates etc. I just hope that this site continues its free service forever. You can see a short video about this service below. What is MyBloop.com in 5 minutes from gubatron on Vimeo .

It was a sweet surprise when I decided to test my new windows vista’s speech recognition. I had already had not so good experience with windows XP’s inbuilt speech recognition and did not expect much from any of Microsoft’s speech systems. I was wondering if I have to shell out from my pocket to have some decent functioning speech recognition software like Dragon naturally  speaking. But after I tried my hands on Vista’s inbuilt speech recognition I did not have much to complaint about this free gift from Microsoft. Check out this nice video demonstration from YouTube. Technorati Tags: speech , vista

If you have been searching for ways to stumbleupon in browsers like Opera or Google Chrome, your search ends now. Stumbleupon can be used without installing a toolbar. Just bookmark  http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/  and start stumbling! 

I'm a fan of google chrome since the day it was released. I love it for its blazing speed. But my web experience is incomplete without stumbleupon. I know it will be a long wait for me to wait for an official stumbleupon toolbar for the chrome. The solution is same as that for opera. Go to Operastumbler website and login with your stumbleupon credentials. After you are logged in add the following link to your google chrome bookmarks: http://www.operastumbler.com/stumble/ All you have to do to stumble is to click on the above bookmark. Visit http://su.is.dreaming.org/ for more bookmarks for surviving without stumbleopon toolbar. Happy stumbling :-) UPDATE: Stumbleupon is now toolbarless! Click here for more info.

Get a cool, simple and FREE CO.CC domain! CO.CC supports for CNAME, A, MX, NS records. CO.CC supports free DNS services. Does this sound like mumbo-jumbo? It just means that you can get your own own web address like www.yourname.co.cc and email address like anything@yourname.co.cc using Google Apps. CO.CC supports Google Apps, Windows live, Blogger, Wordpress, Zetaboards and Tistory. Domain Mapping is the process of pointing a registered domain name to a blog or website. Domain mapping is more than domain forwarding, because your permalinks and URL contain the address of your domain (www.yourname.co.cc), and not a sub-domain (yourname.blogspot.com). You can now use your own custom domain with your blog or customized services and you can create customized email accounts.

I wanted my GTalk as a sidebar panel in my Opera browser and tried to load the GTalk gadget. But unfortunately it is not working :-( So I thought Meebo will work instead and put the iphone version found here as the sidebar widget. It works great in Opera's sidebar panel and I'm sure it will work in firefox too.

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I happened to see the advertisement of Reva , a small environment friendly car which runs on electricity, about 2 years back and thought that it will soon revolutionize the Indian transportation. It seems so economic and ideal for the average Indian budget. The amazing thing about this car is its environment friendliness. It doesn’t gulp gallons of non renewable energy resource called gasoline and spit out toxic fumes in return. The cost of electricity one would use for every kilometer works out to be half a rupee per kilometre even if you buy really expensive electricity. The memories of seeing that advertisement in a pamphlet was freshened when I my eyes met a small car belonging to the postal department. I was surprised to see that it is indeed the little environment friendly car which I always wanted to see in large numbers in the Indian roads. I wish that small car all the best wishes and hope that it gets into the Indian roads in large numbers. Tags: car , reva , environment , ra...